Your item about the Brazilian friction drum reminds me of a similar (I think) musical instrument I heard one at a dance in Africa.
My wife and I used to search out local dances in various African countries. This started in Cameroun, where we did not see much of any particular interest, moved with us to Dahomey (now Benin), then went with us to Zaire (now Congo).
The high point was Dahomey, which had the most energetic and compelling dances we ever saw. It was there, I believe, that we first saw the friction drum. It did not play a large part of the accompaniment to the dance, but when it kicked in I could feel the my energy pick up and my feet want to move. I could not see at first where the sound originated, but I eventually tracked the sound to a musician who had his INSIDE his drum! I had to see how this worked, so I worked my way over to the player to see that he apparently held a stick inside the instrument and created the deep thrumming sound by moving his hand up and down the stick. Magic!
The instrument was relatively rare: I only saw it used at one or two dances, whereas drums, gongs, various flutes and clackers were common from one side of the continent to the other. Thank you for reminding me of it!
From that same Joshua Redman album, his cover of Joni Mitchell's "I Had a King" is also very well done. And thank you for highlighting the "positive" side of this new techonology; far too easy to focus on the "negative".
OK, Robert, you have persuaded me that AI (in the hands of a sensible, smart, purpose-minded user like you) can be both productive, instructive, and plain fun!
Please hurry up with your "Why I Don't Love Artificial Intelligence Platforms" post.
I predict a rise in The Theater/Live Music. Real Actual People preforming in front of Real Actual People. Reason being Artificial Intelligence Platforms Are Machines. Machines can do many things, Create is not one of them.
"Sorry, artists, but I don’t have the time, money, or patience to hire you to do this work."
I am guilty of this as well. I tell myself that I don't have the time to commission the work or track down a public domain image to decorate a post and appease the various platforms' biases for posts with images.
The thing is: Real people put their artwork, their how-to expertise, their research, their stories, etc. online with various motivations. Some for the joy of sharing. Some to attract business. Some to sell ads. Nobody made their work accessible with the intent feeding the AIs of ultra-capitalized tech companies. People were happy when the search engines made their work discoverable. Nobody who makes these things is happy to see their work woven into terabytes of AI coefficients.
"Hey, ChatGPT, write an essay in the style of Robert Graboyes on the terrible aspects of AI. Include any points he has addressed in the past." Sorry, Robert, I don't have the patience to wait for your follow-up piece.
Keep using it for your illustrations! I look foward to your posts the way I used to look for the Saturday Evening post and its art- an the NewYorker for its cartoons.
Best part of your post: “All is well. Now”
Your item about the Brazilian friction drum reminds me of a similar (I think) musical instrument I heard one at a dance in Africa.
My wife and I used to search out local dances in various African countries. This started in Cameroun, where we did not see much of any particular interest, moved with us to Dahomey (now Benin), then went with us to Zaire (now Congo).
The high point was Dahomey, which had the most energetic and compelling dances we ever saw. It was there, I believe, that we first saw the friction drum. It did not play a large part of the accompaniment to the dance, but when it kicked in I could feel the my energy pick up and my feet want to move. I could not see at first where the sound originated, but I eventually tracked the sound to a musician who had his INSIDE his drum! I had to see how this worked, so I worked my way over to the player to see that he apparently held a stick inside the instrument and created the deep thrumming sound by moving his hand up and down the stick. Magic!
The instrument was relatively rare: I only saw it used at one or two dances, whereas drums, gongs, various flutes and clackers were common from one side of the continent to the other. Thank you for reminding me of it!
From that same Joshua Redman album, his cover of Joni Mitchell's "I Had a King" is also very well done. And thank you for highlighting the "positive" side of this new techonology; far too easy to focus on the "negative".
I don't ask AI questions very often - although sometimes I ask it for the pinout of a badly-labeled circuit board.
I do use Gemini to second-guess cover art, by creating the version I wish had been commissioned.
Good examples. I use it a lot, but your examples make me realize I could use it more.
Pretty good comment by Graboyes. *Great* column by Terry Teachout in the October 2005 Commentary.
Beautiful!
Oh, loved that Eleanor Rigby.
OK, Robert, you have persuaded me that AI (in the hands of a sensible, smart, purpose-minded user like you) can be both productive, instructive, and plain fun!
Please hurry up with your "Why I Don't Love Artificial Intelligence Platforms" post.
(FYI, we Luddites here in Upstate NY and Vermont have just won a major, but so-far partial, victory in our battle with a regional chain drugstore and its AI "assistant" named "Burt." Feel free to check out the post from one of our local TV newsrooms: https://www.wcax.com/news/2026/08/07/kinney-drugs-pulls-back-ai-phone-assistant-after-hundreds-customer-complaints/?fbclid=Iwb21leATkM6ZjbGNrBOQzl3Bkb2YFZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEe6dSu_5BticMqqUqKU-5vBnDULjzXUdsLE0h5Lstjd7J8wh7LoKkuhwU5o34_aem_3lBJdN9C8Isjqpgp10bcvQ
I predict a rise in The Theater/Live Music. Real Actual People preforming in front of Real Actual People. Reason being Artificial Intelligence Platforms Are Machines. Machines can do many things, Create is not one of them.
"Sorry, artists, but I don’t have the time, money, or patience to hire you to do this work."
I am guilty of this as well. I tell myself that I don't have the time to commission the work or track down a public domain image to decorate a post and appease the various platforms' biases for posts with images.
The thing is: Real people put their artwork, their how-to expertise, their research, their stories, etc. online with various motivations. Some for the joy of sharing. Some to attract business. Some to sell ads. Nobody made their work accessible with the intent feeding the AIs of ultra-capitalized tech companies. People were happy when the search engines made their work discoverable. Nobody who makes these things is happy to see their work woven into terabytes of AI coefficients.
"Hey, ChatGPT, write an essay in the style of Robert Graboyes on the terrible aspects of AI. Include any points he has addressed in the past." Sorry, Robert, I don't have the patience to wait for your follow-up piece.
Keep using it for your illustrations! I look foward to your posts the way I used to look for the Saturday Evening post and its art- an the NewYorker for its cartoons.